Royals sign Hunter Renfroe


Kansas City's front office looks to continue to add pitchers to the roster, but they also needed an outfielder. And the Royals landed an outfielder that will give the offense a good boost in Hunter Renfroe. Renfrone should be a familiar name to some Royals fans. Kansas City has found an outfield bat for a great price. Hunter Renfrone has signed a two-year deal; and like with the Lugo deal, Renfrone's deal with the Royals includes an opt-out option. The outfielder has signed a two-year deal worth $13 million guaranteed with incentives. Renfrone has changed hands four times over the past three seasons via trades or waiver claims. The 31-year old last season played a total of 140 games combined with the Angels and Reds. A big chunk of Renfrone's playing time came with the Angels where he played 126 games. The outfielder had good pop in his bat last year as he hit a combined 20 home runs between Los Angeles and Cincinnati. The former Reds outfielder primarily hits balls to the left side of the field with occasional hits to center field and right field. But Renfrone's batting average wasn't great last season at .242 with the Angels and an abysmal  .128 during his time with Cincinnati. Take into account that Renfrone played only 14 games with the Reds last season. Although the outfielder has the potential to give Kansas City's lineup a boost he does have a fair amount of struggles. According to MLB Trade Rumors: "But he also doesn’t have huge batting average or on-base percentages. His career batting line of .239/.300/.478 amounts to a wRC+ of 106, indicating he’s been a bit above league average on the whole." Despite his struggles, I believe Renfroe will make the contract he signed with Kansas City worth the salary. He had better stats last season than the Royals outfield had combined other than Edward Olivares who had a batting average of  .263. Not only does Renfrone improve the team with his bat a bit, he has the ability to roam the outfield at Kauffman Stadium. Renfrone is no gold glover, but he has a cannon for an arm. According to FanNation's Bravea Today, Renfrone has one of the best arms in baseball: "Renfroe was below average overall in right field, coming in at -4 OAA on MLB Statcast, but his arm was 91st percentile and left field is a less-demanding defensive position." The outfielder earlier this offseason wasn't brought up too much as a potential target for the Royals. Instead, Kansas City was connected to former St. Louis outfielder Tyler O'Neill. After O'Neill was dealt to the Red Sox, the Royals decided to focus on the free agent market for a bat to add to the lineup next season. Despite Renfrone's struggles in the outfield and his troubles at the plate from time to time, I believe the Royals made the right decision to bring in the veteran outfielder. My hope is that Renfrone can be a good piece to the lineup the next two seasons and be a reliable outfielder.




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